Ok, so be honest; How difficult (on a scale of 1-10) is it to make the Henry Shires tarptent with beak and floor? I've been looking over the plans again and again to try and get a feel for it. I have NO sewing experience, although my mother has a TON of experience and she could probably teach me. I've also looked at the Ray Way tarp with the bugnetting and floor, but his kit will probably end up being more expensive to make then the tarptent. Also, I'm 6'3 and built like a refrigerator; is the tarptent for 1 big enough to accomodate someone my size? Or should I be looking at making the tarptent for 2? If you have made the tarptent (or the ray way tarp) and have pics you can post, that would be helpful as well. Thanks in advance! :-)

Yes, even an older Virga or Virga II (recommended) would be plenty large for you. I am 6' and around 198. With a Virga II, I fit in it great with room to spare even with my 10 year old daughter, although we maxed out it's width.

As far as sewing goes, I have had a little sewing experience, but not enough to work with silnylon effectively yet. The stuff is really slick and, to me, harder to work with than non-siliconized materials.

Hope this provides a little light.

Cheers

I fiddled with the plans, ending up with one a little larger (taller) that the TT1. Beaks on both ends and a few other tweaks.

How difficult?? I guess I'd give it a 5 out of 10.

Regardless of the amount of sewing experience your mom has she'll want to use the scraps left over after cutting to get used to sewing silnylon and to adjust her machine it. (I use LOTS of pins).

If that ends up seeming too much for you can watch the gear swap forum here ... older model TarpTents show up once in a while.

Nice work there Jim! That's how I want mine to turn out. I want mine to be a little longer and a little higher to accomodate my size. Does yours have a floor? Or do you use a bivy or groundcloth or something?

I'm new to tarp-tent camping as I am used to conventional "tents".

Edited by judach on 10/09/2009 12:56:50 MDT.

No floor. I use a bivy for winter weather but since there are no insects then I use a small flat tarp (half the weight of the TT1)

Edited by jcolten on 10/09/2009 13:56:49 MDT.

Thats pretty sweet. Well, I think I'm just going to dive in head first and just attempt to make one. I'll probably mess it up, but oh well. Best way to learn I guess. Thanks for the pics!

nm

Edited by judach on 10/10/2009 11:51:48 MDT.

what is the advantages of a rectangular tarp vs a shaped tarp?

Edited by judach on 10/10/2009 11:51:13 MDT.

it's not horribly difficult it was my first MYOG project, just measure 6 times, cut once, anywhere you mess up the stitching mark it, undo it and resew it and by marking it you can seam seal it later. I ran some trig and adjusted some of the dimensions to keep the same coverage in the back and still be able to use my trekking poles instead of a smaller pole. Beings it was my first project my dad helped a lot with the sewing since he sews all the time. It just takes time and patience to start working with silnylon. The more you do it though the easier it gets.

Jared, do you think you could send me the basic layouts for that tarptent you made? It seems perfect for me, haha. Did you just get it off of TarpTent.com?

Very nice...good work!

They are just the plans off of tarptent.com, with an inch or 2 added to the width in the back so that I wouldn't lose too much side to side coverage with the extra length of using a trekking pole in the back. I also made a plan for a tubbed floor and eventually sewed the the floor in to relieve the headache of sealing the mesh with gear. I don't carry enough gear to do that every night. The only thing I'll be modding is adding a couple elastic cord pieces in the center of the floor length as well. The floor migrates around a little too much for me when there's 2 people in it. But since I'm single again, it will just be here collecting dust until I take someone with me. Presently I'm using my BPL 7 yards to SUL spinnaker tarp that I made from reverse engineering a similar design to the MLD bug bivy. It's a 16oz shelter vs. carrying a 23 or so oz 2 person shelter.

here's the build thread for the Tarptent-for-2

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=15138